Did anyone else get the impression before the season that players' heads were getting big?

I did not get the impression they were smelling their own farts.

Except maybe Dwight. ; )

Spurs game was the only preseason game I watched.

Who was smelling their own farts? Entire team?

Why? Because they got Ty Lawson?

Reading the press clippings? Outside of Zach Lowe, who else predicted them to do well? Seems like most had them 5th at best behind GS, SA, OKC & LAC.

 

If their heads were getting big in the offseason, they better be completely deflated after last night.

 

I don't think the problem last night was with egos at all.

The team played with energy - it just didn't play cohesively on either end of the floor. It also looked like guys were overhyped-up.

First game of the season - I think people need to calm down. 1 game does not make a trend.

 

Nope. This first game definitely means our teams egos are too big, Harden cares less about basketball than Kardashians and brands, #FIREMCHALE should be in full force, and things bode horribly for us.

Amirite?

 

you're missing the centerpiece of the team's defense and by far the best defensive player on the team. Of course the defense is naturally going to look bad. People really expect Capella to have the same impact as Dwight already. Well that was your wakeup call.

 

Honestly the only playere who I thought played to their potential or atleast what I expect out of them was Bev and Harrell. Bev was hustling playing defense and fighting for rebounds he was all you could realistically ask for in a back up pg. Harrell impressed me a lot other than the dumb fouls he got. Harden was poop all night didn't know what he wanted to do with that ball. Tjones just sucked, Capella was not very good either he should never get blocked by a player farieds size and it happened twice. Hey was awful I mean really why is he playing over thorton at this point. Ariza sucked bad and brewer was horrible.

With that said this team is much better than that because all those guys can't possibly play any worse. We're fine.

Dwight and DMO will make w big difference and show if we really are contenders or not. Until both not just one is in the lineup we really don't know what we have.

 

If their heads had gotten too big, bmd, I think last night's performance probably shrunk them some.

 

I think cutting back to one-a-day practices in training camp sends the wrong message.

 

I think it's good that this happened so early in the season as a wake-up call to pull their heads in. If we somehow beat GSW though then any arrogance in the team, if there really is any, will only grow...

 

Just looked like poor conditioning, poor chemistry, mediocre coaching, and rusty shooting to me.

Of course they are going to fight harder after getting embarrassed by Portland, its not as embarrassing to lose in the WCF against the eventual champions.

 

Too early to guess at whether they've bought into their own hype. If anything, it just indicates that they're still the same knuckleheads they've been for a few years - a team that occasionally doesn't put in the effort and never seems to learn from being humiliated.

In their defense, they usually come back from bad games with very good games and play well for a while before losing focus again. Hopefully that will continue this season.

 

This is true. If we beat GSW harden might just address the audience everynight in a west African Zulu swag Chant

 

It's 1 game BMD...take it easy. The stuff I was hearing prior to the season was confidence not arrogance. I think we'll be just fine regardless of the debacle in the 1st game.

 

Go Rockets!

 

No no no no no. You're all wrong. This game was part of the Ty trade. We got that 2nd round pick in exchange for an opening day Denver victory. The Ty trade is now complete and future negotiations with the Nuggets organization now remains open. It's all good.

Friday's the real test and our real season opener.

 

Haha, bmd just did that.

 

No. Ty Lawson and James Harden looked like they played their first real NBA together.The whole team pretty much sucked and couldn't hit a shot.

As for as the overall picture goes, we got quite a few veterans on our team.

 

That's where the league is heading to, less conventional practices and training camp, more rest. Maybe we were too over cautious in nursing injuries at the expense of having our guys play together, but forward is the only direction.

I'm still very optimistic this is going to be a very promising season, even if we have a rough start.

 

Not sure more practice necessarily breeds intensity, and it certainly can lead to more injuries.

I think, sadly, that the issue here is the same that it always been - it takes a while to light a fire under these guys, and when it happens the results are often spectacular but sometimes underwhelming. It's the reason that we aren't quite at the level of GS, or SA, or even Cleveland. That takes a certain veteran mentality, but it's also something that can't be explicitly taught (and some players will never get it). But that intensity and that focus is key to any team that wants to take a title home. Dwight will never fully get it. Harden may, soon (perhaps even this year). The rest of the team needs to see their leaders in that mindset and emulate.